NYC Council Honors Shomrim Heroes at City Hall

New York, NY – At an important ceremony at City Hall, Councilman David Greenfield presented Proclamations on behalf of the New York City Council to the four members of the Boro Park Shomrim Safety Patrol who were recently shot while confronting a known criminal.

On September 2nd, the Boro Park Shomrim Safety Patrol’s Abe Kaztow, Abraham “Motty” Brauner, Joel Klein and Motty Perl were shot while apprehending David Flores, a known criminal and suspected child predator who was driving in an area where 200 children had gathered for a celebration. The week before the shooting incident, Flores had allegedly preyed upon groups of children in two separate incidents.

“Every day, Shomrim members put themselves in the line of danger in order to secure our community,” said Councilman Greenfield. “This particular incident could have easily ended badly, we thank Hashem that no one was seriously injured.”

Councilman Greenfield continued, “Community members join the Shomrim because they want to help keep our streets safe. These are the people who are the eyes and ears of our community and they have proven themselves to be invaluable partners with the NYPD. Today’s proclamations are just a small token of New York’s gratitude for Shomrim’s service.”

Shomrim coordinator Simcha Bernath spoke on the group’s behalf and thanked Greenfield for coming to the hospital to show his support of the injured members and thanked all of the gathered elected officials for their incredible outpouring of support. Also present were coordinators Yanky Daskal, Mottie Katz, and Shaya Lichtenstein.

The Proclamation honored Kaztow, Brauner, Klein and Perl’s “outstanding service to the community” and was presented by Councilman Greenfield who was joined by many other grateful members of the City Council including Speaker Christine Quinn, as well as Councilmembers Brad Lander, Lew Fidler, Vincent Gentile, Sara Gonzalez, Letitia James, Karen Koslowitz, Mike Nelson, Domenic M. Recchia Jr., Peter Vallone Jr., Jumaane Williams, and Dan Halloran.